black holes and revelations
by livelaughlove123
Summary: Lily's gone and James is determined to find her. But does Lily want to be found? 7th year of Hogwarts, multi-chap fic
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: Title credit goes to Muse, characters to JK Rowling, and story to me. Hope you enjoy :)_

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_ Unidentified Location- Day 1_

Lily's first few seconds of consciousness are spent pragmatically; she simultaneously reaches for her wand in her pocket, feels her head as a rush of pressure hits, and searches around the room for some sort of hint of where she is. However, she is soon deterred. Her wand is not in the trusty pocket that she always keeps it in, usually kept hidden by the shapeless robes that she dons for school. Lost, she finds she is not even wearing her Hogwarts uniform, but instead a thin, papery gown, similar to one she would put on in the doctor's office back in Cokesworth. She becomes even more confused as she fingers a giant lump on the back of her head and finds that she cannot sit up because she is literally bound there by ropes that confine her to the cot she is laying on.

She twists her head back and forth, still unsure of her whereabouts. The room is white and looks nothing like the Hospital Wing that she is so accustomed to, she notes.

_What is the last thing I remember? _she asks herself, a fun game she likes to play when she doesn't fucking remember anything. Her mind is a blank abyss. It's not even like when she doesn't remember what she ate for breakfast or the last time she wrote to her parents. No, it's like there's nothing there. Nothing at all. Odd.

But Lily's usually pretty good with these kind of situations so she starts with the clues she's given. She has a bump on the back of her head. That means that she must have gotten hit pretty hard at some point.

It could have happened when she:

a) fell down

b) was hit on the head or

c) something else that she can't possibly fathom.

Her lack of inspiration doesn't really help her at all. So maybe she fainted or was knocked out but how and by whom? If only she could remember what had been happening. All of the questions are making her head hurt even more. She leans back on the bed and closes her eyes tightly.

_Ughh,_ she groans. She just wants to throw a tantrum and scream and yell, but she can't because she's all tied up and there's no one to yell at, no James to- JAMES. Why the hell hadn't she thought of him before this? Where was he? And why wasn't he HERE? If she was hurt in any way- and given the bump on her head and the hospital-like setting she's in, she is definitely hurt- why isn't he here for her?

Something must be wrong, is a conclusion she comes to almost immediately. He was always there for her, no matter what. And if was not here, wherever _here _was, then there was something terribly wrong. Sirius nor Remus nor Peter had even come, and she knew that James would always send them if he couldn't make it, like when he sent them to pick her up for his family's Christmas party since he was too busy setting up for it or when he made them check in on her when she came down with the Muggle flu just last month. But now he wasn't here and neither were they and all she can think is _no, no, no, no_ because no one is there for her and the room is empty and she is tied down and there is a bump on her head and a horrible, heavy feeling of dread is coursing throughout her body. And then she is screaming and thrashing and yelling for James or Sirius or Remus or Peter or even fucking Dumbledore or McGonagall or somebody to come and save her from this place.

It is a delayed reaction, but because it is delayed, because she has tried so hard to think it though, because it is not logical at all, it is heightened. She is screaming so loud there are tears streaming down her face, which means that when someone finally walks into the room, everything looked slightly blurry. And when that person walks up to her and shoots something into her arm, her mind quickly becomes as blurry as her vision. Although she tries to hang onto her consciousness, tries to open her eyes long enough and recognize the person who looks vaguely familiar, she just can't. Her last thought upon going under is that James is going to have some explaining to do.


	2. Chapter 2

_Hog's Head - Day 1_

James wakes up like he's popping out of a storybook. He bounces to his feet and glances quickly around himself. "Padfoot?" he whispers to the lump at his feet. After being given no response, he shoves the guy's shoulder and shouts in his ear, "Padfoot! Wake up!"

The lump groans and turns over to glare murderously at James. "Don't. Touch. My. Shoulder."

James withdraws his hand sheepishly. "Oops, sorry. You okay?" He says as he hoists him up by his other side.

"Uh, fuck no. I think my shoulder's dislocated, idiot." The words roll off his tongue effortlessly, so used to making such remarks.

"Shit, it's okay, we'll just get you to Pomfrey's and then-"

"Uh, James?"

"What?" He stops, wondering why Padfoot has deigned to use his proper name.

"Where are we and, where are the others?"

"Well obviously we're-" James scratches his head. "And the others are-" He sighs. "Shit." He wanders around the room aimlessly, feeling the walls for a door or at least a revolving wall, but nothing budges. "Sirius," he says, finally realizing the gravity of the situation. "Are we locked in, what happened, where is everyone, why is there no door?!" His voice rises significantly and his eyes bulge a bit from behind his glasses.

But before Sirius can answer any of those questions, there's a large bang as something falls from the ceiling. Sirius and James go into a defensive duck and cover position, holding their hands over their heads and crouching on the ground. When the dust clears, they hear a voice. "Guys? You awake? I thought I heard voices?" A questioning, quivering voice yells down that belongs to none other than their mate, Peter Pettigrew. The boys scramble over to where Pete's voice is coming from and find that there is a trapdoor right over their heads and that a ladder is hanging down under it. "Okay, good. You guys are up. You better get up here though. There's some news and I don't think you're going to like it." Even from a distance, James can tell that he doesn't like the nervous glint shining in Peter's eyes.

However, James soon forgets Peter's anxiety after climbing up the ladder, which reveals the majority of their so-called "Order" they had formed sitting in a semi-circle on the floor of the Hog Head's main room. It looks slightly different though as the tables are no longer in the middle of the bar, but instead being used to barricade the doors.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, please come sit down." A voice James immediately recognizes as Dumbledore, calls from the circle.

However, when he looks over at him, he finds himself bewildered by the similar looking man sitting right beside him- did Dumbledore have a twin? James quickly scans the rest of the circle, finding Remus sitting Indian style and Marlene, a girl they had only met a few days prior, with her knees pulled up to her chest and her head cradling between them. She has a worrisome look in her eyes, one that reflects Peter's earlier and James wonders what they aren't telling him. He quickly looks around the circle again before sitting and is startled to find that Lily is not in it.

"Uh Dum- Professor Dumbledore, where's Lily?" He asks nervously.

"Ah, Mr. Potter, call me crazy- many do, but I was quite sure that that was the question that you would ask first. Is that not what I told you, Aberforth?" Dumbledore says, nudging the man beside him before looking at James with the normal twinkle in his eye, yet somehow sadness overshadows it. "Please join the circle, Mr. Potter and I will explain where our Miss Evans has gone."

"Where she's gone? What the fuck do you mean where she's gone?" Sirius grabs James's arm and yanks him down into a sitting position next to him.

"Pardon his French," Sirius starts, normally the habitual curser, "but where is Lily?" Although it's obvious Sirius is trying to be nonchalant, he fails epically. His eyes dart across the circle anxiously at Remus and squint at Peter before glancing sideways at James.

"Well let's start from the beginning, shall we?" Dumbledore begins.

"No, let's start at the part that tells me where Lily is!" James answers hotly.

"James," Sirius mutters under his breath, placing a hand on his shoulder, as if restricting him from pouncing on Dumbledore.

"Well I must give you a bit of a back story before we get to the part concerning your Miss Evans or I would think that you'll be a little bit confused. How much of the fighting do you remember, Mr. Potter?"

The fighting, oh Merlin, the fighting! He had forgotten all about the fighting! It had started the night before and man, were they excited. They were supposed to sneak into Hogsmeade (an easy deed for them, having done it so many times) and attend a meeting that the Order was having at the Three Broomsticks.

It had been Padfoot, Moony, Wormtail, Lily, and him. The "newbies" of the Order, they weren't even technically a part of it yet. It was supposed to be some kind pre-meeting, to make sure they were interested and to ensure that they knew what they were getting themselves into.

And did they find out, James recalls, as all of the details from the fight swoop into his head and take over his mind for a moment. He's overwhelmed by the memories of the flashing spells and the flying objects and the Death Eaters with their swooping black cloaks that jump out at him. "Yes," he finally answers. "I remember."

"Well as I'm sure you remembered, Death Eaters swarmed the Three Broomsticks and we were forced to flee here." Dumbledore stops to take a breath, as if gearing himself up for the next part. "And in that transition, our own Miss Lily Evans was taken by the Death Eaters. We do not know why she was targeted or where she was taken, but I assure you, Mr. Potter, that we will find out."

James stares at him and more memories come flooding back. He closes his eyes tightly and runs a hand through his hair. He says lowly, "It's my fault. It's my fault she was taken."

"No, Mr. Potter, it surely was not. As you will soon come to see, this Order does not take these matters lightly. We are very loyal and we will fight for Miss Evans and we will get her back safely to Hogwarts."

As Dumbledore turns to address the group at whole, Sirius turns to pat James on the arm. "It's going to be okay, okay James?"

"No, it's not and it's all my fucking fault." James mutters, the anger rising quickly to overshadow the lump in his throat that's making his eyes wet.

"No, it's not." Sirius stops the awkward patting and grips his arm around James' shoulder. "It's not," he repeats.

But he leans away from Sirius, pretending to pay attention to Dumbledore, who is still speaking. _It is, it is my fault- they don't know the half of it, _he thinks darkly to himself.

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_Author's Note: I don't normally like to do a lot of ANs because I don't want to interrupt or anything, but I just wanted to introduce myself and say hi and thanks for reading! This is the first real multi-chap fic that I've written and I have A LOT planned for it so...be ready? If you like it, review/favorite/follow, whatever you're most comfortable with! Thanks again :)_


	3. Chapter 3

_Unidentified Location- Day 2_

The first noise that Lily makes upon waking sounds something like, "Nghhh." Though to back this up, she _was_ shot in the arm with something suspicious and she _does_ have no idea where she is. So she feels justified in making such a strange noise. However, upon waking and finding someone sitting by her bedside, she finds herself a little uncomfortable. She squints her eyes and turns on her side before sitting up.

"Hello?" she questions the woman on her bed.

"Ah, Miss Evans, I am glad to see that you are awake," the woman responds. "Let me pour you a glass of water.

Lily holds the glass of water that the woman poured in her hand, but does not take a sip.

"Where am I?" Lily asks.

"Why Miss Evans, you are at the hospital. Don't you remember anything from yesterday?" But before Lily can cut in, the woman continues. "Of course you don't, silly me, your head injury caused your forgetfulness." The woman sighs, shaking her head. "Does it feel any better now?"

"Am I in the Hospital Wing? Or St. Mungo's?" Lily refuses to be deferred.

"What is St. Mungo's, honey? You're at your hospital, in Cokeworth."

_My hospital? Cokeworth? _This woman must be mad. Why would they take her to Cokeworth from Hogwarts?

Hogwarts. James. The fighting. Merlin, why hadn't she thought of it before. "The- the fight, that's where I got my concussion, right?" She mumbles to herself, still fuzzy on the details.

"What fight, darling? You bumped your head when you fell off your bicycle on your way home from school. That's what the doctor told me on his last visit." The nurse smiles at her and reaches out to pat her head.

Lily ducks and pulls away. "No, you're wrong. There was a fight. It was in Hogsmeade. I was there. I remember. I was hit by that spell and-" Lily trailed off, remembering seeing the Death Eater pulling out his wand, remembering losing her balance, remembering being on the ground, remembering the wand pointed straight at her. Then, nothing. Blackness.

She stares blearily at the nurse on her bed as she pieces this together. "Who are you?" Lily questions the so-called nurse.

"I'm your nurse, Lily dear. I think you might be a tad confused. There was no fighting, no such thing as Hogsmeade, no 'spells,' as you call them. It was a simple fall to the ground. You'll be okay in a few days." There's that smile again, but Lily barely registers it.

"What? No. That's not right." Lily denies it. She remembers everything, she does. "Where's my wand?" She says suddenly.

"Your wand? Honey, I don't know what you're-"

"Don't call me 'honey!' And stop playing dumb! Where's my wand? Where did you put it? Why are you lying to me?" Lily screams. She can't stay composed. Not when this woman is outright lying to her. They must have stolen her wand. They must have taken her somewhere. She has to figure out what's going on.

"I'm not lying. I really have no idea what you're talking about. What's a 'wand?'" The woman says, looking genuinely confused.

_She must be a Muggle. But why am I in a Muggle hospital? _

"Look, I want to talk to the doctor."

_He won't be a Muggle, right? Someone has to know where she is, who she is, right?_

"The doctor's visiting another patient at the moment, but he'll probably stop by later."

_Fuck. Rethink it, Lily. This woman can't be totally clueless. They must have told her something. _

"Okay, well if you don't know where my wand is and the doctor's out, can you tell me why I have this concussion again?"

"Sure, honey." She looked happier about this turn in the conversation. "As far as I know, you were riding your bike home from school and apparently you hit a bump in the sidewalk and flew off. Someone found you and deposited you here to get better."

_That's not true. That's not even close to the truth. This woman must be either fed wrongful information or she's just plain-out lying. _

So Lily decides to try to tease the truth out a little more. "Okay, so I was riding this bicycle to school? What school was it? Hogwarts?"

"Hogwash? What's Hogwash?" The nurse looks concerned.

_Okay, Evans, she's mental. Don't let it get to you. Keep trying. _

"Well then what school was I coming home from?"

"Cokeworth College, that's where you go to school."

_This is wrong, this all wrong. I NEED to talk to someone who understands me._

"No, you know what, I want to talk to the doctor now. Bring the doctor to me right now or I swear to Merlin, I'm going to-"

The nurse now looks vaguely uneasy. She slips off Lily's bed and steps toward the door. "Okay, okay, honey, let me go get him." She smiles again, though now her smile looks uneasy as well.

A moment later, an older man walks in. He has grey hair, a mustache and roundish spectacles and Lily places him instantly as the man who knocked her out yesterday._ Didn't he look familiar to her then too? _She ponders.

"Hello Miss Evans. It's good to see you sitting up. How are you feeling?"

Lily knows that she should play along with him, but she can't. She has to know what's going on. It was something that her friends always got on her case about back at Hogwarts. She always had to have someone explain what was going on if she arrived in the middle of the conversation. This is what that felt like. It felt like she was arriving in the middle of a conversation and no one was willing to tell her what was happening. And she hated it.

"A little confused to be honest." The doctor seemed to want to stop her to explain the nonsense about her concussion, but Lily was not having any of that. "And not because of this," she says, pointing to her head, "but because this nurse here does not understand my situation."

"Whatever do you mean, Miss Evans? Nurse Anderson is fully prepped with 'your situation' as you call it. She is the one who first saw you upon arriving."

"Obviously, she's not. I don't even know how to ride a bicycle, okay? Get your facts straight. I am Lily Evans. I go to Hogwarts. I was fighting and a Death Eater hit me a spell and I blacked out and now I am here. Don't tell me any of this 'bullshit' about falling off a bike or going to school at Cokeworth College, okay?" Lily maintains.

So maybe she shouldn't have given away her whole story. But obviously they know it. Maybe the nurse doesn't, but she's positive that the doctor does. He has a look in his eye that he's trying to be oblivious, but she can tell that he knows. She's always had good intuition.

"Look, Lily. You can trust me. The fall might have caused a few hallucinations. That's probably what you're remembering."

"No, you look." Lily stops him. "So maybe the nurse is a Muggle. But you aren't. I recognize you from somewhere. You are a wizard and I am a witch. And I don't know where I am or where you put my wand or why you're doing this, but just admit to me that you are a wizard and I will stop asking you questions."

"Lily, oh Lily, that fall must have been pretty hard. I am not a wizard. You are not a witch. There are no such thing as 'Muggles.' I cannot get your wand back because it does not exist. Witches and wizards are the things of fairytales." The doctor shakes his head.

"That is not true! You're lying! I can tell. I am a witch, do not dare tell me that I'm not. I'll prove it to you. I'll, I'll, just give me my wand back and I'll-" Lily becomes crazed, searching around the room and moving to get out of the bed to find that she is once again restrained.

"Oh Lily, dear. You better get rid of these strange hallucinations if you know what's good for you." The doctor smiles strangely and pushes her back down on the bed, shooting another substance into her arm in the process.

_Was that a threat? _Lily thinks to herself as she feels herself going under yet again.

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AN: Sorry for the long wait, guys! I had this written, but I was going to try to write ahead before posting so I would have more material. Unfortunately I haven't been able to do that, so for now- I give you this! I do have almost all the chapters planned out and I'm still really excited about writing this, but it might be at a slower pace :( Thank you to everyone who followed this story! It really means a lot to me and I hope you enjoyed the chapter :)


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